Winners of the 2016 ANZSPD Louise Brearley Messer Undergraduate and Postgraduate Essay Competition

It gives me very great pleasure to announce the winners of the 2016 ANZSPD Louise Brearley Messer Undergraduate and Postgraduate Essay Competition.

This essay competition has been named in recognition of the great contribution made by Professor Louise Brearley Messer AM in Teaching, Research and Administration in Paediatric Dentistry. The judges commented on the difficulty in choosing the winners due to the high standard of the entries received. I would like to thank all students who participated in the competition, their supervisors and especially the judges.

The results are as follows: 

Postgraduate Essay: 

Maansi Juneja

University of Sydney

Topic: "Over the last five years there has been increasing awareness of the role of the labial and lingual frenulae on a neonate’s attachment and efficiency during nursing.  Discuss the oral physiology of a baby nursing, factors that can decrease a baby’s ability to nurse efficiently and problems these cause.  Also discuss management options and the possible relation between poor nursing efficacy and the risk of early childhood caries."

Undergraduate Essay: 

Joon Soo Park

University of Western Australia

Topic: "Children who brush their teeth at least once a day with a toothpaste that contains fluoride will have less tooth decay. Twice a day use increases the benefit"   Marinho et al, Cochrane 2003 Discuss the amount of fluoride contained in the toothpastes in widespread use for children in Australia and New Zealand. What are the differences in the minimum fluoride concentrations of these toothpastes between the two countries for different age groups and how have these changed over time? What are considered to be the net benefits in increasing fluoride concentration in toothpaste used for younger children?"

The winning essays will be published in future editions of Synopses.

Dr Carmel Lloyd

Federal Secretary ANZSPD (Inc)